


Oiling The Mitt

by Missy



Category: A League of Their Own (1992)
Genre: Attraction, Babysitting, Baseball, Eventual Romance, Gen, Mild Angst, Parenthood, Partnership, Playing catch, Pre-Romance, Yuletide Madness, Yuletide Treat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-06
Updated: 2018-11-06
Packaged: 2019-08-19 16:25:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 637
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16538087
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Missy/pseuds/Missy
Summary: Jimmy and Dottie babysit Stilwell for Evelyn, and soon realize there is an electricity between them.





	Oiling The Mitt

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ijemanja](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ijemanja/gifts).



“Stilwell! Angel!” Evelyn was gently leading her extremely recalcitrant child up to Dottie, who’d been minding her own business as she oiled her mitt on the sidewalk. “Be a good boy, mommy has to powder her nose.”

 

“Evelyn, I was busy…” Dottie began.

 

“Thank you, Dottie!” Evelyn’s overbright voice denoted desperation as she ran toward the bathroom, and Dottie knew there was no arguing with it. The bus had been idling outside the diner for hours and they were generally ready to leave, but Evelyn’s unpredictable kidneys were going to leave them behind schedule. Now that they were alone, Stilwell eyed Dottie and flopped down disconsolately beside her, watching her oil her mitt, unusually quiet and still for a kid who could probably outrun an entire track team when loaded up on sugar.

 

Jimmy came over a second later. “Where did Evelyn go?” His tone of voice was just a hair above panic. Keeping track of the lot of them had been his one main goal during the tour, and the Peaches had made it hard on him, though not intentionally. He’d barely tolerated the presence of Stilwell and his untamed ways.

 

“Bathroom,” said Dottie. He groaned and looked at his watch. “Come on, Jimmy, loosen up, I spent most of my life looking after Kit.”

 

“Kit doesn’t need looking after now and I’d bet my butt that she didn’t need looking after back then!” Stilwell eyed Jimmy, and Jimmy stared right back at the boy. “Why didn’t she take her demon with her?”

 

“Because he’s old enough to be on his own. It’s the same idea,” she insisted, then Dottie knelt to speak with Stilwell. “Stillwell, angel, how do you feel? Do you want a nice, cold soda?”

 

“Why doncha offer him a cigar? A least that’ll calm him down.” Dottie elbowed Jimmy in the hip.

 

“You’re BORING!” Stilwell shouted. “And you’re not my mom and I don’t have to do what you say!”

 

Jimmy and Dottie traded looks. “Hmm. He thinks he doesn’t have to do what we say.”

 

“Yeah!”

 

“That means,” Dottie said, picking up her oiled mitt, “he doesn’t want to play catch with us.”

 

“Huh?!” Stilwell stared at her with confusion.

 

“Oh…sure!” Jimmy played along through a tight jaw. Dottie picked up her mitt and found a ball nearby, discarded from a brief catching derby they’d played while waiting for the bus to be gassed up. She lobbed an easy underhanded throw to Jimmy, and he lobbed it back.

Huh. Funny how natural this felt. They kept tossing it back and forth, only their gazes and the ball touching flesh. Dottie was so absorbed in the activity that she didn’t notice Stilwell’s presence until he tugged on the hem of her skirt.

 

“MAYBE I’ll play catch with you,” he said. Evelyn finally emerged and found the three of them competitively tossing the baseball around. 

 

“Thank you,” she said to Dottie, but cowered back a bit from Jimmy; she was so bad at confrontation. Later, on the bus, as Stilwell slept with his head against his mother’s shoulder, she said, “I wouldn’t’ve thunk you and Jimmy would be natural babysitters,” she said. “I would’ve thought you were his parents.” Was she thinking of her own souring marriage and her strike at independence?

 

“I’ve got a lot of practice,” she said. “And he’s a quick study…but what a thing to say, Evelyn! You’re his mother.” Jimmy was snoring, his hand was down his pants. He was drooling a little, and he hadn't shaved for four days. All she could remember was the intensity of his eyes locked on hers.

 

“I know. I’m just saying - I would’ve thought you were,” Evelyn said, turning toward the bus window, falling asleep. The remark haunted Dottie until she managed to fall into a deep, quiet sleep.


End file.
